Total Cost
Annual ongoing cost
What a vendor costs every year after the build: run, maintenance, licensing and infrastructure summed.
- Unit
- money per year
- Where you enter it
- Computed; shown on the Total Cost tab.
What it means
The four recurring lines added together: run cost per year, maintenance cost per year, and the application's allocated licensing and infrastructure. It is the yearly rate the horizon total multiplies, and the figure the ROI report compares vendors on.
Why it matters to the cost
The ongoing cost is what you will still be paying in year four when the build is long forgotten, and it is where the ranking between a cheap-to-buy tool and a cheap-to-own tool is decided. Comparing vendors on ongoing cost alone, before the build, is a useful first cut.
Typical values
For a 300-case suite: roughly $40,000–$60,000 a year for automation tools of any category; $85,000 or more for manual execution.
Typical values describe a category of tool — AI-native, codeless, script-based, homegrown, manual — never a named product. Why we do not price named products.
Where it appears in the model
Totals, per application
- Annual ongoing cost
- Run cost per year + Maintenance cost per year + Licensing and infrastructure (allocated)
- Year 1 total
- Build cost + Annual ongoing cost
- Analysis horizon
- Build cost + Annual ongoing cost × years in the horizon — the total over the horizon
Every name is a link to its definition. See the whole model.
Try it with your numbers
Annual ongoing cost is a row in the calculator. Change it and every total on the page moves with it — free, in your browser, nothing to install.
See how annual ongoing cost impacts the calculation of test automation costsLast reviewed 2026-09-15. All terms.